By Robert Fantina
U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have once again disgraced themselves on the world stage. This writer is singling them out, when there are many such leaders to choose from, because he happens to hold citizenship in both the U.S. and Canada.
Each supposed ‘leader’ went on international television to assure the world of their ‘ironclad’, ‘without conditions’ support of apartheid Israel. Both the U.S. and Canadian clowns condemned Hamas, with Biden going so far as to not even suggest to the murderous Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he negotiate a ceasefire. No, the hated Palestinians (many of whom are Muslims, you know, so of course they are of less value than anyone else) must be allowed to be slaughtered; this applies to men and women, both old and young, and children, including infants, babies and toddlers. None are to be spared U.S.-financed bombs, dropped by U.S.-financed Israeli planes.
Here and there a voice of reason is heard. In the U.S., Representative Rashid Tlaib made perfect sense with her statement, which was widely condemned. Here is what she said:
“I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day. I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity. The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance. The failure to recognize the violent reality of living under siege, occupation, and apartheid makes no one safer. No person, no child anywhere should have to suffer or live in fear of violence. We cannot ignore the humanity in each other. As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.” Despite the truth and compassion within this brief statement, she was soundly criticized for not condemning Hamas violence.
In Canada, Member of Parliament Sarah Jama also issued a reasonable, thoughtful statement. Said she: “The generations long occupation of Palestine, as explained by Micheal Lynk, the UN Special Rapporteur for the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territory, is apartheid, i.e. ‘ a political regime intentionally prioritizing fundamental political, legal, and social rights to one group over another in the same space on the basis of racial-national-ethnic identity’. We are seeing this definition of apartheid real time through the continued violation of human rights in Gaza through the use of white phosphorus chemicals, the withholding of access to food, fuel, electricity and water, and the destruction of the only exit from Gaza that isn’t controlled by the State of Israel – the Rafah border.
“Especially with this context in mind, the news coming of Israel and Palestine is deeply concerning. For 75 years, violence and retaliation rooted in settler colonialism have taken he lives of far too many innocent people. I call for an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation. We must look to the solution to the endless cycle of death and destruction: end all occupation of Palestinian land and end apartheid. Canada must hold true to hits history of peacemaking, and refrain from military intervention. My heart genuinely goes out to all those impacted by this on-going violence.”
She later had to ‘clarify’ her statement, saying that she understand the pain of her Jewish constituents.
The Palestinian Ambassador to the U.K., Husam Zumlot, had choice words for his BBC interviewer on October 10. Only a small portion of his interview will be documented here:
• “Don’t draw any symmetry here; don’t equate between the occupied and the occupier.”
• “How many times have you interviewed Israeli officials (question by Ambassador Zumlot to the interviewer)? How many times? Hundreds of times. How many times has Israel committed war crimes, live, on your own cameras? Do you start by asking them to condemn themselves? Have you? You don’t.”
• “You know why I refuse to answer that question (why he won’t condemn Hamas for its violence of last week)? Because I refuse the premise of it. Because at the very heart of it is misrepresentation of the whole thing. Because it is the Palestinians who are expected to condemn themselves.”
• “We (Palestinians) have been denied our rights for a long time.”
• “The right starting point is to focus on the root causes.”
• “You bring us here whenever Israelis are killed. Did you bring me here when many Palestinians in the West Bank, more than 200 over the last few months (were killed)? Do you invite me where there are such Israeli provocations in Jerusalem and elsewhere?
• “What Israelis have seen…in the last 48 hours the Palestinians see every day for the last…fifty years.”
• “Those people, two million, have been taken hostage by Israel for the last sixteen years.”
Such reasonable, sensible and logical statements are dismissed and shouted down by chants of ‘We Stand with Israel’, and ‘Israel has a right to defend itself.’
Western leaders do not hesitate to pick and choose how they will defend or condemn the actions of others. British journalist Aaron Bastani perhaps said it best in a ‘tweet’:
“There’s clear double standard in endorsing terrorism against civilian targets by Ukraine (which one can obviously argue is justified – they face occupation) & condemning it by Palestinians. Those fighting our enemies = war of liberation Those fighting our allies = terrorism.”
Law professor Khaled Beydoun expressed it thusly: “So, Ukrainian civilians defending their families are ‘freedom fighters’… But Palestinians in Gaza doing the EXACT same thing are ‘terrorists’?”
Independent journalist Bianca Graulau expressed the same opinion with these words in a ‘tweet’: “I’m confused. When Ukrainians attacked back after Russia’s invasion, the US celebrated them. When Palestinians do the same against Israeli occupation, they’re condemned. Filter the propaganda through this lens: the US empire will always choose sides based on its own interests.”
Perhaps Ms. Graulau has brought us to the crux of the matter. The U.S. isn’t interested in human rights, international law or self-determination. Certainly it has no interest in peace in the Middle East. It is interested in power over the entire world and the profits that that power will bring them. So what if its hands are dripping with the blood of Palestinian children? Biden cares no more about that than George Bush cared about the blood of Iraqi children. No, the geopolitical goals of the U.S. are always front and center. Human rights and international law are no where on the U.S. list of priorities.
Israel has now cut off all food and water sources to the Gaza Strip, effectively beginning to starve to death over 2.5 million people. The U.S. and Canadian governments are just fine with that. The last power plant in Gaza has now run out of fuel and, of course, Israel will allow no more to be imported. Again, the government of Canada and the U.S. have no problem with that.
Amid the horrific bloodshed that is occurring even as this is being written, one must look for what possible good may come from this. There are a few possibilities:
1. Palestine, which for decades has been an unimportant footnote in the foreign policies of most of the governments of the world, will no longer be relegated to such an insignificant position. Any nations, especially Arab nations, that consider normalization with Israel, will need to think twice before doing so. Those that did so under the regime of Donald Trump are certainly having buyers’ remorse, and their citizens, never happy with normalization, have now taken to the street in unprecedented numbers. This could be the first crack in the so-called Abraham Accords.
2. The United Nations, which has long overlooked the many, many violations of international law and crimes against humanity of which Israel is guilty, may now be forced to act.
3. A complacent citizenry in the U.S., which increasingly sides with the Palestinians, may finally wake up to U.S. complacency in all Israel’s crimes. That may lead to different decisions at the ballot box.
4. Israelis will know that nothing short of genocide will allow them to feel secure in their homes. Of course, genocide is part of the Zionist entity’s ongoing policy, and the racist government officials are now accelerating it, not even pretending not to. But if they fail, Israelis will know that it is only a matter of time before they hear the sirens again, and more Israelis will die. This may disrupt, and possibly bring down, the racist Netanyahu government.
This writer mentioned his dual citizenship in the U.S. and Canada. He is more ashamed now of those two countries than he has ever been, and that is saying something.
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Robert Fantina’s latest book is Propaganda, Lies and False Flags: How the U.S. Justifies its Wars.
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International Hypocrisy: The U.S., Once Again, Leads the Way
Der Friedensstifter 